Well we've had a fantastic day after a week of worrying whether we'd be successful in getting a good weather day for snorkeling.
We went with Quicksilver Snorkeling Cruise company out of Port Douglas marina. It is about a 5 minutes drive from where we're staying so we didn't have to worry about to early a start. Once we'd booked in we were welcomed aboard and had coffee and biscuits while we waited to depart at 10am.
The 90 minutes journey to Agincourt Reef on the outer reef shot by as we had talks from a marine biologist on what we would be seeing and the life guards on snorkeling techniques. Today we learnt that brown is actually a common colour for coral, white doesn't necessarily mean the coral has died and it's the algae that create the colour. There has been much press about stressed corals with the increase in the water temperature due to El Nino. Again we found out that they can recuperate if the conditions return to normal within 6 weeks and blue or white tips on the antler corals indicate the coral is recuperating.
As we approached the reef platform Ian spotted some dolphins. First wildlife spotting of the day and it just got better!
During our journey went had a very helpful chat from one of the staff members who recommended that as soon as we arrived that we got on the submersible trip before having lunch and then snorkeling. Most people rush to snorkel so end up queuing to get their equipment. So we were some of the first to board.
Well I reckon we should have jobs as spotters as we were the ones spotting 2 turtles (me and Amy), a manta ray (me) and reef shark (me). There were also loads of brightly coloured fish and corals.
After our trip around the corals we returned for a fantastic buffet lunch and wrote a few postcards.
They have the only post box on the Barrier Reef!
Then we got geared up in stinger suits (lycra suit to protect against the tiny jellyfish prevalent between November and May) which cover your feet and have hoods and gloves. With a mask and snorkel basically you're covered!
Our base platform in the background.
Making use of our amazing underwater camera.
The water was amazingly warm - great for us but sadly not for the corals. We ended up snorkeling for well over an hour.
In the last few minutes of the battery power we were lucky that Ian managed to video a turtle! Unfortunately you'll have to wait until I see you as I can't load it on the blog.
So an amazing day with some great water life. We were really pleased with our adventure and have loads of pictures and videos of our day thanks to our brilliant camera 😄.
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